AuthorTopic: Pose annoyance (Read 2850 times)

I've got maybe 18 or 19 bones in my figure and while I understand the way they move and know that if I want a character to stand still and then move I have to copy the pose from the start of his stillness and paste it on the frame just before he starts moving. But there's an annoying issue I run into every time I start animating with Anim8or:

In the scene editor, if I dont move a bone the first time early on in an animation there's no key frame for it's axises, so when I go to move it later and then scrub backwards in the timeline that bone maintains that position backwards in time forcing me to have to find the start point of the animation and reposition that bone to where it should be. Usually I solve this by moving as many of the bones as I can on every axis but that's a lot of moves to do for the beginning of every scene and god forbid I have multiple characters.

While this might not be a problem for a single bone when you have more than a dozen and several of them suffer this at the same time it snowballs really quickly. Is there a way to assign positions to the axises of all the bones at one time so that I dont have to try and move every one of them on frame zero just to make sure they dont give me this problem again?

I always keyframe everything at the first frame. That way, if I move something later, it's always from that initial position. And if I only move one or two of several items, but others may be affected, I can always copy the first keyframe data into the later frame to recover the original position(s). By the way, you can actually select multiple bones and/or objects in the Timeline Editor and key (or copy and/or paste) them all at once.

i like to create a sequence called "0" or rather zero. make a one frame seq "key all bones" then on the first frame of every scene add your 0 sequence. then all your bones are there and it puts all your X Y Z's together also. but dont leave it as a seq. copy and paste in the same frame and it will convert to key frames.

RudySchneider: I've tried this and I always find that even though I moved a bone on the X and Y axis the Z axis isnt recorded so when you DO move that axis pasting over it doesnt always fix the problem. So you still have to make sure you moved every bone on every axis before you can copy it.

Mak: I rarely use the sequence mode but I guess in this case that's probably my best bet, still it seems like the problem may still bite me if the sequence doesnt record every axis, here's hoping.

mak has hit it right on the button. Defineately the most efficient way is to use the sequence mode and use 'key all bones'. It makes for tidier working in scene mode as well, as all bones are keyed in a natural order.

Mak's method is exactly what I do too. It's a shame there isn't a 'key all bones' function in Scene mode. The single-frame sequence concept is actually an effective and simple way of animating boned figures, not just for setting up controllers and keyframes on frame zero. A single-frame sequence can be made for each pose, so in Scene mode you need only drop each pose into the timeline and allow Anim8or to define the 'tweeners'.

Ugh, unfortunatly it doesnt help the way I thought. Ensoniq5 hit on exactly what I really need; a "Key all bones" option in scene mode. My method has always been to skip the sequence mode unless I specifically wanted to create a repetitive motion like walking, if it's just a conversation shot or something complex like a fight scene it just feels ridiculously slow and inefficient to have to do all my key frames in sequence mode and import them into scene mode, it kills my momentum not only in the process of making animation but also the character's movement. It's not a very intuitive process.

Remeber that in sequence mode there is also a 'key selected bones' option.

Therefor, you could make certain punch sequences, (and/or pose sequences), with only the arms keyed, and kicks, with only the legs keyed. So your whole figure would not be affected when you add one of these sequences. (or poses).

Could be worth looking into?

PS. Hey all, i'm connectrd to the interrnet on my laptop through my phone connection. I've had no internet connection at home for over 3 years now. So, expect to hear more from me from now on.